How To Make Your Own Pizzas
Back in the 90s (or late 1900s, as my secondary school teacher wife's pupils refer to it as!), before I became a Personal Trainer, I used to make pizzas for a living.
I worked in Marcellos Pizza, a popular Italian takeaway in Perth. Not only did I learn how to make the most amazing pizzas, I got to meet some wonderful people, many of whom I'm still connected to today. It was such a wonderful time in my life and we were even listed in one of the early editions of Scotland The Best, an independent guide book, by Peter Irvine.
It's over 25 years since I left there to begin my journey into fitness but I have continued to make my own pizzas almost every Saturday for the last 15+ years since, following as close to the original recipe I learned from Davide, the owner, as I can. The only real differences being I'm using dried yeast instead of fresh and I mix it by hand rather than a professional dough machine.
Here’s what you’ll need:
1 sachet of dried yeast
Strong white bread flour
450ml warm water
Dash of olive oil
1 teaspoon of salt
For the tomato sauce:
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
2 cloves of garlic
Oregano
Dash of olive oil
1/2 teaspoon of salt
Toppings:
Mozarella
Toppings of your choice.
Method
Put the yeast, salt and oil into a bowl, add the warm water and mix together. You can use a food mixer however, I just use my hand.
Add the flour gradually, continually mixing until the mixture becomes firmer and less wet and sticky. Sprinkle some flour onto the worktop, empty the mixture out onto the worktop and begin kneading, continuing to add flour as you go until it feels firmer then leave to rise.
Leave for 1 hour.
While the dough is rising, empty the tomatoes into a bowl, add the salt, oil, oregano, finely chop the garlic, mix in with a spoon and set to one side.
Stretch the dough out and tear off a handful and roll into a ball. Each ball should fit into the palm of your hand and will make a 12" base. You should get around 4-5 balls with your dough. If you're only making 2 pizzas, like I did, you could fold the remaining dough and make a loaf of bread.
Leave to rise.
Set oven to around 200 degrees. I have a fan oven so I'm not sure what that would be for other types of ovens.
Flatten the bases out, oil the pizza trays and place the base in. You can use a rolling pin if you want but I like to use my hands. Leave the bases to rise and start preparing your toppings.
Put in oven for initial 10 minutes then check every minute or two until you get them the way you like them.
If you're using an oven you can use outdoors, I would check the timings there.
Once ready, slice your pizzas up, serve them on a plate and enjoy!
The great thing about these pizzas is that depending on the toppings you use, these are much healthier than any pizzas you’ll buy in a supermarket or in many takeaways.
Give it a go and let me know how you get on!
